Home installations of laundry appliances often times have the washer and dryer arranged side by side. The arrangement of the washer or dryer on-the left or the right varies from installation to installation. For top loading washing machines, positioning the washer on either the left or the right of the dryer does not create a problem for the washer door. Dryers, which typically are front loading, have been designed to accommodate the left or right position of the washing machine by having a door that can be easily reversed. However, reversal of the door of a front loading washing machine is a problem, due to the door lock which is provided to assure that the door is not opened while the machine is operating, and due to the hinge.
A reversible door with a rectangular access opening is provided on the Maytag Neptune front loading washing machine. On the Neptune machine, the door lock is mounted along the top edge of the door opening, at the center line thereof for locking the rectangular door. It is desirable to have a reversible door on a front loading washing machine with the hinges and door lock on opposite sides of an access opening. However, such reversibility of a door is difficult due to the complexity of the hinge and door lock mechanism.
Accordingly, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of a reversible door for a front loading washing machine.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of a reversible glass door for a front loading washing machine which is quickly and easily converted between left and right hand opening.
Still another objective of the present invention is the provision of a reversible door for a front loading washing machine which can be rotated 180° so as to change from a left hand to right hand hinge.
Yet another objective of the present invention is the provision of a front loading washing machine having a glass door which can be reversed between left and right hand orientations without disassembling the washer cabinet.
These and other objectives will become apparent from the following description of the invention.